Closing In on Thermal Relics with Indirect, Direct, and Collider Searches for Dark Matter

20 Jul 2026, 09:00 → 22 Jul 2026, 19:00 Europe/Zurich

4/3-006 - TH Conference Room (CERN)

Benjamin Safdi (University of California Berkeley (US)), Cari Cesarotti, Masahiro Teshima, Matthew Philip Mccullough (CERN), Michelangelo Mangano (CERN), Tim Cohen (CERN), Tomohiro Inada (Kyushu University (JP))

This event will bring the indirect detection community together with the theory, direct detection, and collider communities to emphasize the importance of searches for WIMP dark matter, including benchmark candidates such as the higgsino, with future instruments such as the soon-to-be-operational CTAO. 

 The aim of the conference is to emphasize the synergy between the three major routes towards detection: indirect searches, direct detection, and colliders, as well as to reaffirm the theoretical motivations for WIMP benchmark models and highlight how they may be detected with future instruments. We believe that with enough community engagement this conference could substantially impact the search for WIMP DM. 

 

Confirmed Speakers 

• Shotaro Abe
• Ivana Batkovic
• Martin Beneke
• James Buckley (APT)
• Francesca Calore
• Christopher Eckner
• Miguel Escudero
• Roberto Franceschini
• Daniel Kerszberg
• Graham Kribs
• Lina Necib
• Kerstin Perez (GAPS)
• Elisa Pueschel
• Hari Ramani
• Diego Redigolo
• Dan Salazar-Gallegos (HAWC)
• Masahiro Teshima
• Linda Xu
• Kenny Chun Yu Ng (LHAASO)

 

Monday 20 July

09:00 → 10:30 Theory Plenary: Theory Plenary 1

Convener: Cari Cesarotti

09:00 Opening

Speaker: Cari Cesarotti

09:30 Electroweak Dark Matter: Multiplets, Masses, and Searches

Speaker: Dr Diego Redigolo (CERN-INFN Florence)

10:00 Indirect Detection of Thermal Electroweak Dark Matter

Speaker: Linda Xu (SLAC/Stanford)

10:30 → 11:15 COFFEE

11:15 → 12:15 Experiment: Experiment Plenary1

11:15 CTAO status

Speaker: Masahiro Teshima

11:45 Indirect WIMP detection: a multiwavelength perspective

Speaker: Francesca Calore (Unite Reseaux du CNRS (FR))

12:15 → 13:45 Lunch

13:45 → 15:15 Flash Talks

10+2

15:15 → 16:00 COFFEE

16:00 → 17:30 Theory Plenary

16:00 Nonperturbative modifications of TeV WIMP annihilation

Speaker: Martin Beneke (Technische Universitaet Muenchen (DE))

16:30 Minimal Baryogenesis induced Asymmetric Dark Matter

Speaker: Miguel Escudero Abenza (CERN)

18:30 → 19:30 Welcome Drink

Tuesday 21 July

09:00 → 10:30 Experiment: Experiment2

09:00 Enhancing the sensitivity of future indirect dark matter searches: a path towards thermal relics

Speaker: Daniel Kerszberg (LPNHE, CNRS/IN2P3)

09:30 The Search for Thermal Relic Dark Matter with VERITAS and Dark100

Speaker: Elisa Pueschel

10:00 Probing WIMP Dark Matter in the Galactic Center with CTAO-North LST-1 and LSTs

Speaker: Dr Shotaro Abe (ICRR, UTokyo)

10:30 → 11:15 COFFEE

11:15 → 12:15 Theory Plenary

11:15 Rich Phenomenology from Composite WIMPs

Speaker: Graham Douglas Kribs (University of Oregon (US))

11:45 Detecting Higgsinos on Earth

Speaker: Harikrishnan Ramani

12:15 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 15:30 Flash Talks

10+2

15:30 → 16:15 COFFEE

16:15 → 16:45 Experiment

16:15 Theory and Machine Learning for Indirect Detection of Dark Matter

Speaker: Lina Necib (MIT)

16:45 → 17:15 Theory Plenary

16:45 WIMPs at (Future) Colliders

Speaker: Roberto Franceschini (Rome 3 U.)

17:15 → 18:15 Discussion

19:00 → 20:00 Informal Dinner

Plan to meet at Luigia's, contact Cari for reservations

Wednesday 22 July

09:00 → 10:00 Experiment

09:00 GAPS: A New Era of Cosmic Antinuclei Measurements

Speaker: Kerstin Perez

09:30 TBA (LHAASO and LACT)

Speakers: Prof. Kenny Chun Yu Ng (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Prof. Kenny Ng (Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

10:00 → 10:30 COFFEE

10:30 → 11:30 Theory Plenary

10:30 Thermal relics and the Galactic Centre Excess: From the current status to the CTAO era

Speakers: Christopher Eckner (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)), Christopher Eckner (University of Nova Gorica)

11:00 TBA

Speaker: Ivana Batkovic

11:30 → 12:30 Discussion

12:30 → 12:40 Closing Remarks